If there is one thing I could do without it’s grocery shopping. I love to cook but going to the grocery store, wandering the aisles, trying to figure out where they moved (fill in the blank) to and not to mention, I always forget my list. Even when I do remember my list I still end up tossing a bunch of random things in my cart because fruit snacks are delicious and I can never remember if I have all the ingredients needed for a recipe so I end up tossing it in the cart “just in case” only to find out I did not need it when I get home. These are all reasons that I was intrigued with Shipt (think Uber for your groceries.) Today I decided to give Shipt a try, and I must say it was a breeze. I placed my order through Shipt at 5:00 pm. By 6:00 pm I had a text message from my Ship shopper, Christine, letting me know she was heading to the store. I received a couple more messages from Christine letting me know that certain products were out and if this happens you can choose to go with the substitute your shopper recommends or remove the item from your order. Christine was at my door by 6:45 pm with my filled order! I got all of my groceries for the next week and I did not have to leave my house, talk about a win. If you want to give Shipt a try, click the link below and we will both get a $10 credit!

In my career, there is no set schedule, which is both a blessing and a curse. They don’t teach you about the work-life balance in Real Estate School. Last week was rough, one of those “my house is a mess, my car is on E, my fridge is empty, I forgot to do this, I forgot to do that” overwhelming “how am I supposed to do it all?” kind of weeks. I felt like I hadn’t been prioritizing my life very well. I wasn’t making time for the things that matter, my Mom, friends, family, you get the idea. I vented my frustrations to two of my good friends while we were sitting and chatting on the floor (she made promise of a couch soon) of Kel’s new studio (stay tuned for more on this.) Friends, they get it, and they know how real the struggle can be sometimes because they have struggles too, we all do. I am blessed to have a tribe of friends that are there for me no matter what. Friends that have never given up on me even after I’ve made up some excuse for the 300th time as to why I can’t do something, friends that tell you like it is. Those are the best kind of friends in life. After emptying my brain, Kel looked at me and asked, “now what?” and to be honest, that thought had never crossed my mind. She was right, now what, what am I going to do? I was spending so much energy focusing on what was going wrong that I did not realize that I was the only thing standing in my way (chapter five in The Subtle Art, but I wasn’t there yet.) I could choose to continue to exhaust energy complaining, or I could choose to refocus and do something about it. I chose the latter. When I got home I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and broke my life down into five categories: my work, my home, my blog, community involvement and me time. I listed out what action items need to happen each week, reoccurring appointments and meetings, things that slip through the cracks when life gets busy (like laundry, ugh) and made sure to keep some “white space” for flexibility. I blocked time for each of these things and created a weekly schedule that allows time for me to focus on growing my business, growing as a person and improving my relationships with my family and friends. I was very surprised to see how seamlessly it all came together. Does this mean that I can only eat lunch at specific times? No, but it is a good guide to follow in my everyday life and there is enough flexibility that if, no, when something comes up, everything can easily fall back into place. I’d love to hear how you balance the chaos of your day to day life! Feel free to share in the comments below, and as always thanks for stopping by!

“There is a simple realization from which all personal improvement and growth emerges. This is the realization that we, individually, are responsible for everything in our lives, no matter the external circumstances.” Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck